Surprise

I'm sure the Holy Spirit gifts us

with coincidences that confirm and support

what we were already thinking

and wanting to do.

I'm also sure she regularly

shows up to challenge

our assumptions and convictions.

The one of these arrivals to which

we are most receptive and attuned

depends on our primary source

of hope and the degree to which we view

faith as arrival or journey.

True surprise comes, welcome or not,

when her light reveals glimpses

of our shadow selves,

daring us to rethink sacred maps.

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

© 2014 Todd Jenkins